Dixonville

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Cemetery Manager

About Dixonville Cemetery

Located at 210 Old Concord Road, consists of 1.7 acres and is closed for burials/historic. One of the city's oldest African-American cemeteries, Dixonville Cemetery was deeded to the City of Salisbury in 1874. There are at least 477 documented burials that have occurred at the Dixonville site since 1914, however it is believed that many burials took place at this location prior to the practice of official record-keeping. The oldest existing headstone in Dixonville Cemetery dates to 1851.

In 1874 Joseph Horah deeded a tract of land that established the first City-owned cemetery for the burial of African-Americans. In 1881, the Commissioners of Salisbury purchased a second acre of land from Joseph Horah and enlarged the cemetery.

Death certificates issued in the 1950’s reflect that the burying ground was also known as East End Cemetery. When it became Dixonville Cemetery is unknown. There are over 450 documented interments in Dixonville since 1914 with the oldest burial confirmed by a headstone dated 1851. There are approximately 28 remaining headstones located in the cemetery, but documented aerial photos show there were a lot more during the 1960’s.

Cemetery Policies

FOR CITY OWNED CEMETERIES

The City of Salisbury Cemetery Division reserves the right to regulate the method of decorating graves so that a safe and historical uniform beauty may be maintained.

Floral arrangements accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed grave. They will remain there for approximately one week, at which time the Cemetery staff will remove and discard them. If the family wants to keep any of the grave arrangements, they should be removed before that one week is up. If circumstances prevent the family from removing any flowers, etc. from the grave site, please call the Cemetery office at 704-638-5250 before the one week time frame has passed to make other arrangements.

The City of Salisbury is not responsible for any floral or tributes placed on a grave plot. If missing or stolen, you may file a police report by calling the Salisbury Police Department at 704-638-5333.

Glass, statues, rocks, metal or wood products, toys, life-size decorations, solar lights, Christmas lights, bricks, benches and other potential projectiles are not permitted on cemetery plots at any time. The Management reserves the right to remove any items that do not conform to these limitations. This is for the safety of our crews since lawn mowers and weed eaters may come into contact with items placed on graves. If so placed and damage does occur, the Cemetery shall not be held responsible.

All floral arrangements must be in a permanent vase, on a saddle or in a hard plastic cone vase that sticks into the ground. If placed otherwise, and your flowers are damaged due to contact with our equipment, the Cemetery shall not be held responsible.

An “Annual Cemetery Cleanup” is performed in March. Signage and Access 16 announcements will be posted about 2 months prior to the cleanup. If you would like to be notified of the exact date, please call the Cemetery office at 704-638-5250 to leave a contact name and phone number. During cleanup week, any items located on grave plots including flowers, decorations, etc. will be removed and discarded. If you wish to retain any items, please remove them before clean up week. After the cleanup is completed, you can place your flowers back on your plot.

The City maintains 7 cemeteries and takes pride in keeping them looking neat. The mowing schedule allows each cemetery to be mowed every other week which is usually sufficient for each cemetery to look good until we get back to it. Please bear with us at times as rain and the crew having to stop to open and close graves plays a major role in keeping the schedule on time.